Take Responsibility

In the Upaniṣads we find the history of Upamanyu…

His Guru told him to take the cows out grazing. After some time his Guru asked him, “Why are you so fat and healthy?” He replied, “After the calves take their milk, I drink the remaining milk.” His Guru said, “Don’t drink the milk, but he did not tell Upamanyu what he could take. Some days passed, and when he saw Upamanyu, again he said, “How is it that you are still so fat and healthy? What are you eating? Upamanyu answered “I take the foam of the milk left in the calves’ mouths.” Again his Guru said, “Don’t do that.” Now all roads were closed. So what did he do? He saw some leaves with a white liquid coming out of them, and started taking that ‘milk’. He became blind from that poisonous white liquid, and he fell in a well.

Gurudeva came looking for him, calling out, “Where are you?” He called back, “I am in this well.” “What happened”, Gurudeva asked. Upamanyu replied “I was taking this milk from the leaves, not realizing it to be poison. I became blind and fell down in this well.” Gurudeva said, “You will get your eyesight back, and all Vedic knowledge will be at once be revealed in your heart.”

In the Upaniṣads and other Vedas, such examples of guru-sevā are given.

yasya deve parā bhaktir
yathā deve tathā gurau
tasyaite kathitā hy arthāḥ
prakāśante mahātmanaḥ

Only unto those great souls who have implicit faith in both the Lord and the spiritual master are all the imports of Vedic knowledge automatically revealed.

Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 6.23

We should be like such disciples. Bhakti is not easy. Bhakti will not come simply by saying the word ‘bhakti’. Moreover, in the line of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, vraja-bhakti, gopi-bhakti, is very, very difficult to attain.

You are very fortunate to have come here. Keep your good fortune by developing strong faith in Guru, by performing devotional services under his guidance with commitment, and by following his instructions nicely – even if you have to go to hell. Go to hell with a contract. In other words, wherever you are sent – it may even be to hell – you will have your commitment to Gurudeva always with you, and you will execute it. Take Guru’s instructions to heart, and then you will get bhakti; otherwise it is not possible.

[This is a translation of Śrīla Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja’s discourse on service to Śrī Guru given in Govardhana on September 4, 2005.]

Artwork by Varṣāṇā devī dāsī